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Can Seawater Be Directly Used for Electrolysis? A European Commission Review

A recent report by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, titled "Hydrogen Production via Direct Seawater Electrolysis – A Literature Review", examines the potential of using seawater for electrolysis without prior desalination.

Key Findings

Technical Challenges:

• Electrode corrosion due to seawater impurities.
• Chlorine evolution reaction (CER), which competes with hydrogen evolution, reducing efficiency.
• Lower energy efficiency compared to purified water electrolysis.

Recent Innovations:

• Development of selective catalysts to reduce chlorine evolution.
• Advanced membrane technologies for impurity filtration.
• Improved electrode materials to enhance system longevity.

Economic Viability:

• Compared to traditional electrolysis using desalinated water, direct seawater electrolysis (DSE) remains at a very low Technology Readiness Level (TRL).
• No commercial-scale projects have implemented DSE yet.

Why It Matters?

With hydrogen production sites planned in water-stressed regions like the Arab world, India, and China, direct seawater electrolysis could be a game-changer. While the technology is not yet commercially viable, continued research in catalysts and membranes could make it a sustainable solution for large-scale hydrogen production.